Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
My rating: 4/5 cats
there are so very many enthusiastic superfans of Peter Pan out there, and so very many retellings and variations of the story have been published to entice these superfans. and before we go any further, let me out myself: i am not one of them.
i don’t dislike Peter Pan, but my only exposure to the story has been through the disney-filter, and i was never really keen on any of the disney movies with people in them – give me The Fox and the Hound or The Aristocats any day, but Sleeping Beauty? snooore. so, while i saw the cartoon, and i read the little disney picture books about peter pan, i was never really driven to seek out the original, which i expect, given what i know about the disnification of other stories, is very different from its source material.
all of that is to say that even though there are likely many references and allusions here that i didn’t catch or understand the full significance of that will no doubt delight you superfans, i still really enjoyed this book.
i’m fond of the ‘villains redeemed’ genre that gregory maguire popularized and to which so many other authors have made offerings, and it’s amazing to have such a wealth of retellings of beloved stories to satisfy readers’ cravings to revisit their favorite characters, no matter what shape the retelling takes, or how successful it is as a book on its own. i am myself a superfan of Wuthering Heights, and will read any and all retellings, even if they are atrocious. as many of them are.
but fear not, peter pan kids, this one is a million miles away from atrocious. which is not surprising, considering how popular this author’s Alice in Wonderland retellings are, both of which were bought excitedly by me, only to sit unread on my shelves, because we have already established that i am the worst.
but i read this one, so ppbblltt! and it is such a fun, bloody ride.
here we have jamie, the future captain hook, and the first boy peter chose to join him in his world of adventures and eternal youth and endless irresponsibility. since then, jamie has been peter’s right hand man boy, his first and most special friend, and has witnessed the arrival of so many other chosen boys over the years. and he has also been responsible for burying them. because – fine print – eternal youth is not the same thing as immortality. and on peter’s island of fun and gleeful romping, there are also pirates and crocodiles and the many-eyed and illnesses and … the battles. and while one of the most appealing characteristics of boyhood is the freedom from thinking about the future, or consequences, or anything other than what the next adventure will be, jamie has started to feel the weight of his actual years, and is troubled by peter’s short memory when it comes to all of the unnecessary lives lost to dangers sought out for no other reason than a lark, an adventure, a game. which simmering disquiet is already beginning to complicate their friendship and is made worse when peter brings back a boy who is way too young for peter’s rough-and-tumble ways, and jamie feels responsible for protecting him from the many dangers of the island, not the least of which is peter’s easily-bored carelessness, jealousy, and inherent lack of remorse.
it’s a really interesting dynamic, as jamie assumes the parental presence lacking in these boys’ lives even before they were abducted, and peter is just collecting temporary playmates, like a kid with a jar full of frogs who forgets to punch airholes in the lid.
it’s a clever twist, a great character study, and did i mention all the carnage? it’s like Lord of the Flies with a much higher body count.
i am very eager to finally grab those two alice books from my shelf, as soon as the mighty stack of promises allows.
